advancement
Americannoun
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the act or process of moving forward.
They hoped that destroying bridges around the metropolis would slow the advancement of enemy troops.
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promotion in rank or standing; preferment.
She had high hopes for advancement in the company.
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development toward increased understanding, quality, utility, or benefit to human welfare in a consequential area of knowledge, technology, or practice.
She toiled in the lab out of personal ambition, not for the advancement of medical science.
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an achievement or result contributing to progress in a consequential area of knowledge, technology, or practice.
Advancements in robotics will transform industry.
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Law. money or property given by one person during their lifetime to another that is considered an anticipation of an inheritance and is therefore to be deducted from any share that the recipient may have in a donor's estate.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of advancement
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English avauncement, from Anglo-French, Old French avancement; see advance, -ment
Explanation
Use the noun advancement when you talk about something's growth or progress. The advancement of modern medicine has lengthened many people's lives. You might describe a society's advancement as a result of new industries and an improved economy. You could also cheer your best friend's advancement in her French class, being moved to a higher level because of her hard work. When you advance, you move forward — either literally or figuratively. Advancement comes from this idea of moving in a positive direction and its Old French root word avancier, "move forward," from the Late Latin abante, "in front."
Vocabulary lists containing advancement
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 9
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Lesson 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
John Hagins, the CEO of a Midwestern community blood center, chairs the cooperative blood center task force of the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies, America’s key blood center and transfusion medicine organization.
From Slate • Oct. 21, 2025
This summer, she’s beyond excited to join the Los Angeles Times as a mass media fellow through the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, sponsored by the American Statistical Assn.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025
She is a senior scholar with George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and became the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity.
From Salon • Jan. 21, 2025
Gompert and colleagues report evidence of repeatable evolution in populations of stick insects in the May 24, 2024, online edition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's journal Science Advances.
From Science Daily • May 24, 2024
Notes from the Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
